<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>College is Hard, Love is Harder by randomness8382</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306957">College is Hard, Love is Harder</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomness8382/pseuds/randomness8382'>randomness8382</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Suki (Avatar), College AU, F/F, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Lesbian Mai (Avatar), M/M, Modern Era, Pan Ty Lee (Avatar), Past Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Past Ty Lee/ Suki (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:41:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306957</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomness8382/pseuds/randomness8382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sokka and Ty Lee are best friends working their way through college when they meet Zuko and Mai, and everything changes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>79</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>College is Hard, Love is Harder</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka had meet Ty Lee at freshmen orientation. They clicked immediately and became quick friends. Sokka was from the water tribe, and even though the war had been over for years, there was still some racism in the Fire nation. The school he was going to however, was one of the best and most prestigious schools in the world. He had worked hard for his academic scholarship and wasn’t going to let a little (okay, a lot of) discomfort ruin his chances here. Ty Lee was from the fire nation but was an Air Nomad’s descendant which caused problems, it didn’t matter that she was a noble’s kid. Plus, there were her six other sister’s that hadn’t run away to join the circus at one point. Ty Lee had also worked hard for her athletic scholarship when she got back in school. She was only going to school because she wanted to be more than a circus freak. Them both being non-benders didn’t help their standings with any of the talented benders either. They had dated for a few months at the beginning of the year, but later decided they were better as just friends. While they did break up, they never announced it. Shortly after their breakup, they admitted to each other that they were not straight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zuko and Mai were childhood best friends, who were forced into an arranged marriage to combine their parents’ companies. They did their best with what they were given and were plotting the demise of many unsuspecting people. While they were not happy, they were forced to marry, especially because neither of them were straight, they decided that platonically marrying your best friend wasn’t the worst thing in the world. The university was just a place to get their business degrees, the first step to the rest of their carefully planned lives.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sokka had gotten maybe, three hours of sleep last night and even less the night before. He was hungry, tired, and stressed which was not a fun combination for him. His microwave had broken, and his meat was cold which was not it. He had cold meat, and an important test, and just couldn’t handle both right now. He was lucky that he had ran into the campus Prince on his way to class.</p>
<p>“You’re a fire bender, right?” Sokka asked him, knowing full well that he was, but not wanting to be rude and jump straight into asking him to heat his food up for him.</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah?” Zuko answered, not sure who this guy who was asking him really wanted. Did he not know who he was?</p>
<p>“You don’t sound too sure about that.” Sokka commented.</p>
<p>“No, I mean, yes. I mean. Yes, I am a fire bender.” Zuko stumbled out.</p>
<p>“Good, heat this up will you.” Sokka demanded and shoved his lunch into Zuko’s hands. Zuko stunned by this stranger, did as he was told and handed him back the plate. “Thanks.”</p>
<p>Zuko stood there frozen, shocked that anyone here would talk to him that way. When he finally snapped out, he noticed that the stranger was already gone, no where in sight. Zuko was starting to worry that he would never see this intriguing man again. Then, he was worrying about worrying about this man. He didn’t need to worry though because the very next day, the man approached him again.</p>
<p>“My microwave is still broken.” Sokka said shoving another plate into his hands. (Truthfully, it actually was fixed by now, but he wanted an excuse to talk to the Prince again.)</p>
<p>“You going to tell me your name?” Zuko asked when he handed him back the plate of food.</p>
<p>“Sokka. I gotta go. Thanks again.” He said as he rushed off. This turned into a daily occurrence everyday that week. The next week Zuko took to walking with Sokka to his class, failing to mention that his class was the other direction. When Zuko had asked around about him all he had gotten was loner and a girl named Ty Lee’s boyfriend. Zuko was so sad when he figured this out that he didn’t walk Sokka to class. The next day Sokka had asked what was up, and he didn’t have the heart to tell him, so he just said that he had something that he had to do and walked him to class.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Around the same time Zuko and Sokka met, Mai and Ty Lee met.</p>
<p>Ty Lee was in the back of the gym stretching after her workout, and saw a very cute, very tall girl walk in. She then proceed to watch as the girl practiced her knife throwing forms. She noticed as she was packing up that she was rubbing her arms as if they were sore, and that was when she decided to go up to her.</p>
<p>“You know, I can help you with that.” Ty Lee told the girl.</p>
<p>“And what exactly would you be helping me with?” Mai asked the girl who had come up to her from the back of the gym.</p>
<p>“You’re sore muscles. I noticed you rubbing them. I can help if you want.” Ty Lee offered again.</p>
<p>“Sure, why not.” Mai said, not like it would hurt anything. The girl started rubbing her arms and she about melted with the first touch. She had to work very hard to not seem like she was enjoying this more than she should. “So, what’s your name?”</p>
<p>“Ty Lee. Nice to meet you. What’s you name?” Ty Lee asked as she was working on her back muscles.</p>
<p>“Mai. You’re good at this.”</p>
<p>“Thanks. You have nice muscles. I can do this again if you’re ever in need.” Ty Lee told her.</p>
<p>“Uh, thanks. I’ll find you if I do.” Mai said, thrown off by the odd comment. “I should get going, my best friend is probably waiting for me.”</p>
<p>Mai picked up her bag and turned to walk out the door. Before she could get far though she turned around and asked for Ty Lee’s number. “Just in case I’m in need of your hands. For my muscles, I mean.”</p>
<p>Mai had taken to texting her any time she worked out in the gym, and Ty Lee always came running, well back-flipping. One time, Mai’s phone was ringing, and she was too blissed out to notice, so Ty Lee picked it up for her and saw that Zuko, the campus prince who everyone knew was engaged, was calling.</p>
<p>“It’s Zuko, Mai.” Ty Lee told her, you could tell there was a certain sadness to her voice as she realized that this was Zuko’s Mai, as in engaged and straight Mai.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zuko and Mai were always close, and while they were engaged, they always talked about any crushes that they had. Shortly after meeting Sokka and Ty Lee, they started talking about them and this was how they had each fallen for one half of the couple. They both decided there was no harm if they kept hanging out with the other people, even if it did nothing good for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sokka and Ty Lee quickly fell into the same problem, though less of having to worry about one’s parents view.</p>
<p>“Why do you think that she doesn’t wear a ring of a betrothal necklace?” Ty Lee asked Sokka one day.</p>
<p>“I heard that it’s an arranged marriage, but they are best friends so it could have just worked out well.” Sokka answered. “Come on, I’m hungry let’s go get food.”</p>
<p>“Okay,”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sokka and Ty Lee were walking into the restaurant, his arm over her shoulders, when they spotted Zuko and Mai.</p>
<p>“Oh! Mai! Lovely evening, right?” Ty Lee almost shouted upon seeing her.</p>
<p>“Hey, Zuko, nice seeing you here. You must be Mai. Ty Lee’s mentioned you a couple times.” Sokka said, reaching out his hand to shake Mai’s.</p>
<p>“Nice meeting you too. Sokka right? Zuko’s mentioned you before.” Mai said taking Sokka’s hand. “Zuko, this is Ty Lee.”</p>
<p>“Nice meeting you Ty Lee. You guys eating here tonight?” Zuko asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, figured we’d get out of the house for a night. Take a break from all the studying.” Ty Lee said.</p>
<p>“If you haven’t eaten yet, we could grab a table together.” Sokka offered the other couple.</p>
<p>“Sure, we just put our name in. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a quick change. I’ll be right back.” Zuko told them. Mai let go of his arm, and he went off to tell the host of the change and came right back. “So, what are you guys studying at school?”</p>
<p>“Astrophysics and physical therapy.” Ty Lee answered for the both of them.</p>
<p>“Oh, wow, cool. So, space?” Zuko asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, in simple terms space.” Sokka answered. “I came across some meteorite one time and had this idea of making a sword out of it but there wasn’t enough there. I haven’t been able to get my hands on anymore so haven’t been able to do it, but space sword. Wouldn’t that be cool?”</p>
<p>“Sokka, hun, stop geeking out over space sword. One day, you’ll make it and then you can geek out okay?” Ty Lee told him.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I get over excited about space.” Sokka told them with a blush across his face. Just then, the host came up and walked them to their table.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>They all had a great time at dinner and decided to make it a weekly occurrence. Slowly all four of them became friends. One day when they were all hanging out together, Ty Lee spotted Suki, a girl that both Sokka and her had gone on dates with.</p>
<p>“Sokka, do remember Suki?” Ty Lee asked.</p>
<p>“Um, yeah. Any reason you’re bringing her up now?” Sokka asked.</p>
<p>“She’s behind you.” She answered.</p>
<p>“What?!” Sokka said and whipped his head around quickly and then back again.</p>
<p>“Who’s Suki?” Zuko asked.</p>
<p>“An ex.” Sokka answered.</p>
<p>“An ex.” Ty Lee answered at the same time.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Zuko said.</p>
<p>“Wait, I though you were into men?” Mai asked, hope hiding in her voice.</p>
<p>“I’m into whoever strikes my fancy.” Ty Lee answered. “Like Sokka, until we both said that we worked better as friends.”</p>
<p>“Wait?! You two aren’t dating?!” Zuko loudly asked.</p>
<p>“No, did you two think we were?” Sokka asked. Suki chose that moment to come up to them.</p>
<p>“Hey, Sokka. Ty Lee. How are you two?” Suki asked.</p>
<p>“Good. You?” Sokka answered for the both of them.</p>
<p>“Good. Are these your friends?” Suki asked suggestively.</p>
<p>“Yes. This is Zuko and Mai. They’re engaged.” Ty Lee told her. “Have a nice day.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well, bye then.” Suki said and walked off.</p>
<p>“Why’d she ask if we were friends in that tone?” Zuko asked them both.</p>
<p>“I’ve been known to date whoever strikes my fancy too.” Sokka said in a way of an answer.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Zuko said again. That was quite an informative day for Zuko and Mai.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“We should tell them!” Mai shouted at Zuko.</p>
<p>“No! You know how my father will react. And your parents too Mai. We can’t no matter how much we want too. This is the path our life is headed.” Zuko shouted back, feeling defeated by life and his father.</p>
<p>“We’ll figure this out Zuko. We always do.” Mai told him, taking his hand, and giving it a squeeze.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you know what a beard is?” Mai asked Sokka on one of the rare occurrences they were by themselves.</p>
<p>“Well, which type are you talking about? The face kind or the cover kind?” Sokka answered with a question.</p>
<p>“I think you know which.” Mai snarked back.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I do. There a reason you asked?” he responded.</p>
<p>“I’m Zuko’s. And he’s mine.” Mai blurted out quickly. “Our parents arranged our marriage years ago to merge the businesses. We don’t any control over them until we are actually married, so they didn’t give us an age of inheritance. Zuko’s father has threated many times that he’ll give the company to his sister, Azula, and cut him off if he doesn’t go through with it. We were both okay with it. That is until he met you.”</p>
<p>“And you met Ty Lee?” Sokka interrupted.</p>
<p>“Yeah. The money isn’t something we can’t live without but Zuko has some issues with his father. He couldn’t handle it if he got disowned. And at the very least, we have to get through college. Our parents are paying for everything.” Mai finally finished.</p>
<p>“That…that’s a lot to digest.” Sokka said.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know. Sorry for dumping on you, but I can’t live with mopping Zuko anymore. It’s killing me.” Mai lamented.</p>
<p>“Can you get ahold of the contracts your parents have for the two of you?” Sokka asked her.</p>
<p>“Yeah, why?”</p>
<p>“My sister doesn’t call me the plan guy for nothing.” Sokka told her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Five Years Later…</p>
<p>“I guess they call you the plan guy for a reason.” Zuko told Sokka, his hand in his.</p>
<p>“Yup, they really do.” Mai agreed, her hand in Ty Lee’s.</p>
<p>“Does this mean, you’re planning our weddings?” Ty Lee asked.</p>
<p>“Of course.” Sokka answered.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I got this idea from <a href="https://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/">sword-over-water</a> on Tumblr. So I hope I did them justice. </p>
<p>Their art is great so you should go <a href="https://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/post/622927846499876864/zukka-and-mailee-modern-au-im-just-gonna-go-and">check it out</a>.</p>
<p>I hope you guys enjoyed.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>